We're Happy The Top Gear Trio Is Back But Our Wallets Aren't

As we reported the other day, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James Mayare back on television with a $250 million deal for three years and 36 episodes courtesy of Amazon. Before you getexcited at the return of the best team in car television history there is one big thing you need to think about. There’s nopoint in arguing, because the old presenters made Top Gear one of the bestshows ever created but now Chris Evans is in charge. Aside from that important factor we need to touch on the issue of pricing.

In order to watch the trio on Amazon Prime you'll need to spend a whopping $99 per year and there's no monthly payment option. So you’re looking at dropping $300 over three years to watch 36episodes, which is ridiculous. The real kicker is that Amazon may require youto obtain a Prime account and still charge you extra for the episodes, like it does for movies. To make matters even worse the show will be on Instant Video which isn't available everywhere. Prime Instant Video is currently only available inthe US, UK, Germany, Austria and Japan. So if you don’t live in any of theseaforementioned countries, you won't be watching new Top Gear any time soon.

Even if Amazonprovides the crew with a monstrous production budget, there’s no way the showwill be as good as it once was. There will be a new Stig and track which would make lapping supercars somewhatirrelevant. We’re delighted to have the boys back in cars, but they should’ve picked a different provider that wasn’t as expensive and was available everywhere—like Netflix or Hulu Plus. These providers are easily accessible, cost less and would’ve allowed enthusiasts to focus on the show instead of their wallets. We were spoiled for so long with cheaply and easily accessible Top Gear and now that's all changed. Any hope of Top Gear remaining a show for the gearhead masses is officially over.